Villa are hopeful of completing a deal for El Ahmadi by the early part of next week after continuing negotiations. Press Association Sport understands officials from both clubs will meet in the next couple of days to finalise the deal of between £2.5million to £3million.

But El Ahmadi already has his heart set on making the move to the midlands club. He told the Express and Star newspaper: "Aston Villa is a top club. I will miss Feyenoord, but nobody will blame me for taking this step."